Oregon

Oregon took two days. One was focused on Ashland and Crater Lake, and one focused more on Portland. I had been recommended to check out Ashland because it is known for an 8 month long Shakespeare festival. So I started out there. I didn't happen to stay for any shows, but I toured around the town, their main park area, the Elizabethan theater... it was cool. Maybe it would have been cooler if I had someone to watch a play with or something, but I didn't feel like staying the night there, so after a few hours I moved on.

I flipped a coin and decided to head to Crater Lake. It was a good choice. So Crater Lake used to be a volcano, and in the basin that used to be the mouth, there is now a lake. And the only water that ever gets in there is pure snow and rainwater. No polluted rivers or toxic lakes ever flow into it. It is amazing. Blue like I've never seen. It is now the standard by which I will judge all other blue. Most amazing to me was snow. Snow in July. And it was hot out - easily in the 80's. So what is it, magic volcano snow? But it was all over the place. In the lake, outside the lake on the roadways and in the trees. Awesome, really.

My nature trek continued with something a friend recommended to me - Multnomah Falls. Apparently, it is the second largest year-round falls in the US. So far on this trip, I've done a lot of drive-by touring. You know, park the car, get out with the camera, take a few snaps of the elk grazing in the meadows, back in the car, and then driving onward. Ooh, look, a big tree - stop the car, get out, take a few snaps, get back in the car, drive on. But here it was my first challenge. I went to the falls. It looked pretty. And there is a trail to the top. Only 1.25 miles. I can do that. I walk a mile or two all the time. Or... I could. But the INCLINE! Oh My Gods! THE INCLINE! So it's a zig-zag trip to the top of the falls, and I'm on "Switchback 3 of 11" and I think to myself, "I'm going to die here and nobody will know..." so I decide to quit. And I get mad at myself. I talked myself through it this way - it isn't a race to the top. It's just me. Go slow - I have all day if I need it. Take the time, and finish the climb. And I did. Hike, hike, hike, stop, breathe (pant pant) and then hike, hike, hike... wish I had water, but keep going, hike, hike, hike. And the view from the top was... awesome. Mostly because I did something that I had been ready to quit on. The hike down was OH so easy. I was almost floating. And so of course to commemorate the event, I bought a fridge magnet from the falls. Yeah. That will be my eternal reminder not to give up on myself. The race need not be fast, as long as I complete.

Day two, I spent in Portland. I went out to a few gay bars, but apparently when a tourist walks in, everyone else leaves. The first place I went - Dirty Ducks - had three other people drinking in it, and a bartender who looked like the grandpa in the old Dukes of Hazard TV show. Huge long white beard, suspenders and jeans... well, it WAS supposed to be the "bear bar" for Portland, but that night it was just me. Oh, and the bar only serves beer - no booze - so I wasn't that interested, although the Dirty Duck Stout was pretty darned good. From there I went around the block to the Fox and Hounds. Empty. Seriously, I was the ONLY person drinking there. I had one vodka and left. It was embarrassing. The bartended had to ask if I needed anything because he was going outside to have a smoke - leaving me ALONE in the bar! So I went to C.C. Slaughters for the rest of the night. They had $2 vodka's so I found my heaven. Cute boys, decent music, It was alright. The bartender was woofy and flirty so it worked well to sit at the bar and have a few cheap drinks. I was in a strange place in my head, because I'd been on the road for 4 days by now, alone, driving halfway up the coast. So I left the bar alone and headed to my hotel by taxi.

On my way north - ever onward - I stopped by Powell's Bookstore in Portland because another old high school friend told me that I HAD to visit it. I ended up buying three books, which is good because on those camping nights it's good to have something to read to keep my mind quiet and still. One of the books I bought happens to be a copy of Tom Robbins' Another Roadside Attraction which seems amazingly fitting. It was neat to be there, a whole city block on multiple floors of nothing but WORDS! Yay! But, Washington awaited. And so I continued on...